By
TRACEY PRISK

Member for Orange Andrew Gee says the local paramedic service is well resourced

LONG WAIT TIME: A home invasion victim was forced to wait 28 minutes for busy paramedics to arrive. Photo: STEVE GOSCH

MEMBER for Orange Andrew Gee says while it’s concerning a man with head injuries was forced to wait 28 minutes for paramedics, the local service is well resourced.

A 60-year-old victim was assaulted during a home invasion at his Kenna Street unit in the early hours of June 20 and an ambulance was called at 8.52am.

Due to a heavy workload at the time, paramedics didn’t arrive to treat the man until 28 minutes later.

A spokesperson for NSW Ambulance said “the nearest available paramedic crew was immediately assigned.”

“At the time of the call, NSW Ambulance was fully rostered but experiencing heavy emergency workloads across the region, with every nearby paramedic crew engaged in patient care,” the spokesperson said.

The victim was treated at the scene 28 minutes after the first call to NSW Ambulance and transported to Orange Health Service in a stable condition.

Mr Gee said while the delay was “concerning “ when compared to the state target response times, Orange’s average response times were better than the state average and the state’s target average.

Mr Gee said the state average time for NSW Ambulance crews to respond to a triple-0 call was 10.84 minutes, more than the state’s targeted time of 10.02 minutes, while Orange’s average response time was only 9.22 minutes.